At least four people have been killed in a mortar attack by the foreign-backed terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra (Victory Front) that targeted a residential area in Damascus, Press TV reports.

Several mortar shells slammed into a neighborhood of the Syrian capital on Friday, which caused the loss of life.

Over the past few months, Damascus has come under mortar fire from anti-government militant groups holed up in suburbs on the outskirts of the city.

However, Syrian troops are continuing operations against the armed groups in the suburbs to drive them out.

The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

In addition, several international human rights organizations have accused foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes in Syria.

In an interview recently broadcast on Turkish television, President Bashar al-Assad said that if the militants fighting against the Syrian government take power, they could destabilize the entire Middle East for decades.

“If the unrest in Syria leads to the partitioning of the country, or if the terrorist forces take control… the situation will inevitably spill over into neighboring countries and create a domino effect throughout the Middle East and beyond,” he added.

UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos and High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on April 18 that a quarter of Syria’s 22 million people are displaced within the country and 1.3 million have fled to other states in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Children are among the ones who suffer most. Children have been murdered, tortured, and subjected to sexual violence. Many do not have enough food to eat. Millions have been traumatized by the horrors,” Amos said.